Woman Who Posed As Heiress Convicted

Published 7:00 pm, Thursday, October 17, 2002

NORRISTOWN, Pa (AP) _ A woman accused of posing as a wealthy heiress to con friends and businesses out of tens of thousands of dollars was convicted of theft by deception and writing a bad check.

Tereza Solomon Demoody was found guilty Thursday of scamming $30,000 from real estate executive Harvey Sklaroff and then repaying him with a check that bounced.

Sklaroff told investigators that he gave Demoody an additional $50,000 last year, but the jury couldn't decide on that amount.

Demoody, 48, was actually a middle-class widow, but police have said she was so convincing in her act as an heiress that she managed to run up a $32,000 bill for limousine service and settle into a $3,500-a-night suite at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Philadelphia.

She allegedly told people she was a beneficiary of a $47 million family fortune amassed by Haym Solomon, a Polish-American Jew who helped bankroll the American Revolution. When she asked for loans or credit, saying she was having temporary money problems, friends gave it to her, believing she was wealthy and could pay it back, authorities said.

At her trial, Demoody testified that she planned to pay the money back to Sklaroff but said a man she called her fiance lost the money gambling.

Montgomery County Judge William R. Carpenter ordered a presentencing investigation into Demoody, who could face up to 12 years in prison. No sentencing date has been set.

Others have claimed Demoody owes them money but there aren't any charges pending against her.